How Mobile Technology help Real Estate industries

Chitranjan Kesari, Head of Information Technology Department, Kanakia Group

My journey started in 2014 when I was working on a project for the slum re-development in Mumbai. The project involved the gathering of a substantial amount of data from slum-dwellers. For this reason, a mobile app that enables us to collect data and send it to a central server will help speed up the process of documentation for the project.

With the app revolution and the general population spending long hours looking into their tablets and smart-phone devices; it creates the perfect opportunity for real estate companies to market their services through mobile applications. However, surprisingly, an underwhelming number of real estate businesses have exploited this opportunity. This gives a competitive advantage to any company looking to invest in this form of marketing in the real estate industry.

As per analysis and market feedback in the year 2018, marketing through smartphones and tablet apps are crucial to any business. Statistics show that 79 percent of people from the millennial generation have their mobile devices with them at all times. A business with a mobile app presence would be directly connected with its customers—a concept we are implementing with our new launches.

As for the e-commerce platform for realtors, let us take a look at one of the best realtor apps ‘Zillow’ as an example. Zillow allows users to save their property search requirements and matches them with new listings of properties; where the user receives an automatic push notification or their assigned agent receives a message when there is a case update.

According to a research study on real estate apps, the apps are twice as likely to retain users than those that use mobile browsers. There is also twice the chance that real estate mobile app users will come back within a month.

The study also reveals that the rate of engagement is high within real estate apps.

– 27.88 percent of users would be active for the first couple of days out of the week and then drop out, showcasing “low-activity.”

– 30 percent of users would be active for three to five days out of the week and then drop out, showcasing “medium activity.”

– 40 percent of users would be active for almost the entire first week, showcasing “high-activity.”

Overall, 73 percent of people who actively use apps are using realtor apps a minimum of three times out of the week to browse properties and calculate their values. In case of inquiries and questions, they contact the realtor of that listing directly through the app.

A study from Adobe examined information about mobile app usage from more than 600 brands. They wanted to find out how loyal the users were to appease these brands. Adobe discovered that mobile users spent more time on apps than on websites. Based on this evidence, mobile app development was considered to be a good investment for a brand to make. Loyalty can be achieved a lot more with mobile apps than with mobile websites.

According to the concept known as “effective frequency,” consumers will build loyalty to a brand if they see it at least 20 different times. Since mobile apps are more visible to users and easier for them to engage with, they increase their chances of building loyalty toward those brands.

Return Traffic from Your Real Estate Website

Whether people are looking to sell or buy property, they dislike using mobile websites to research real estate listings. They would much rather find a real estate agent app for this purpose instead.

The biggest apps in the real estate market are Realtors, Zillow, and Trulia. When people use these apps, companies seize the chance to obtain their loyalty for a long time. Users say the functionality of the apps are better than how their website counterparts function.

Any real estate agent that wants to be a fierce competitor to these real estate portals will need to begin with getting a mobile app for their real estate agency. This will at least put you on the playing field by bringing in new traffic and keeping it on your real estate website only.

Better User Experience for Your Customers

Users need to have a better experience when they use a customized real estate app. When we create a mobile website, we are basically adapting a desktop website’s information for mobile devices. Since these devices have smaller screens, they end up getting stuffed with information distracting and confusing the users.

Mobile apps are different because they don’t have excess and unnecessary information which is found on the mobile website and desktop website such as realtor biographies, newsletter subscription boxes, or home buyer’s guides on realtor apps. The only thing you will see in a good realtor’s app, Android or iOS, is a search feature so that users can discover new properties. This keeps the experience simple and easy.